Art Berke, a lifelong White Sox fan, has worked at the highest levels of the sports industry with Major League Baseball, ABC Television and Sports Illustrated. He grew up in Northwest Indiana, in the shadow of old Comiskey Park, and proudly proclaims 2005 as the best year of his life. Art offers his glass half-full opinions and observations as he lives and dies with the Sox.

Results tagged ‘ Rockies ’

Having blown a two-run lead as a result of a pair of solo homers (by Jason Giambi and Ty Wigginton) off of Mark Buehrle, the Sox found themselves tied 2-2 with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday night. Brian Bruney was on the mound facing Wigginton, who unloaded for the long blast his last time up.

Not exactly the guy you’d choose in an attempt to close the door, Bruney did the job by forcing Wigginton to hit into a double play to end the inning. A huge relief.

That said, it was one thing to close the door because Sox pitching has been their saving grace. It was quite another to think, with all their recent missed opportunities, that they could actually muster a run to take the lead and hand it over to Sergio Santos to clinch the win.

But they did it. Carlos Quentin led off the top of the ninth with a single, coasted to third on a PaulKonerko base hit and scored on an A.J. Pierzynski sac fly that just scored CQ (pictured above). It certainly wasn’t a powerful offensive display and my heart sunk a bit when Alexei Ramirez struck out after the two singles. I had visions of Quentin being stranded at third, like so many White Sox baserunners have so far this season. And as we hoped Santos shut down Colorado 1-2-3 in the ninth for his 16th save and the 3-2 victory.

The yo-yo season moves on. After Tuesday night’s controversial defeat, we’re on the rebound again, back to three games under .500 and four games in back of the Tigers who got clobbered by the Mets.

Let’s see what happens in tomorrow’s matinee with Jake Peavy on the hill in what is shaping up to be a bit of a bizarre baseball season on the South Side.

Notes and quotes on the White Sox’s 3-2 extra inning loss last night to the Rockies:

* The winning run scored from first base on a single in the 13th inning (pictured above) when centerfielder Brent Lillibridge seemed to nonchalant the play.

Lillibridge explains:

“We’re playing no doubles in one of the biggest ballparks in this league. (Ty Wigginton) bloops it right there behind second base, and the first thing I’m doing is sprinting in there. Once it stops, I have to make sure. I can’t go in on a bare-hand sprint and miss the ball. I’m not going to make a mistake there. I’m going to make sure I get it.

“Right when I looked to see where the runner (Troy Tulowitzki) was, I saw him rounding third base so I gathered myself, made a one-hop throw to home plate and take a chance and he was able to beat it. It was close, but it was a good call by the third base coach. It was just one of those weird things that you never think a guy would send him, but he knew what he was doing and they got the win out of it.”

* Lillibridge was in center because Ozzie pulled Alex Rios from the game for not hustling.

Ozzie on Rios, who was hitless and committed an error in the fifth:

“(He) don’t run the bases. That’s why I got him out of the game. It’s not (the first time) it’s happened. If you don’t play the game right, you’re out of the game.”

* In a much-too-familiar scenario, the White Sox hit into a pair of double plays in the first five innings that halted ralllies.

Ozzie on the loss:

“I don’t think we should feel bad because we earned it to lose this game. We deserved to lose. I think the way we played from the first inning, I don’t think we should have won this game at all. We had opportunities. The only thing about this game, we pitched well. Everything else was pretty bad.

After last night and the recent hitting woes of Adam Dunn and all the rest the five games in which we trail the Tigers seems like 20.

Two springs ago, my White Sox posse and I marveled at the number of legitimate future stars there were on the Sox horizon. Among them were Gordon Beckham, Tyler Flowers (pictured above), Jordan Danks and Dayan Viciedo.

At least three of these “can’t miss” candidates took a step back in 2010. Beckham got off to a horrible start after a fine rookie season and ended the season injured. Flowers disappointed and there were whispers that he was no longer held in the high esteem as he was when he was acquired from the Braves in the Javy Vazquez deal. Little brother Jordan, who before last season was looked upon as a possible midseason call-up, gave no signs of being ready during the season at Birmingham. Viciedo didn’t necessarily take a step back, but he spent most of the season in the minors and transitioned from third to first. Despite his high strikeout ratio and inability to draw walks, his “electric bat” was impressive in his short stint in Chicago.

If yesterday was any indication, it’s a new day as the quartet led the Pale Hose to a 9-8 victory over the Rockies at Camelback Ranch.

–Beckham went 3 for 4 with an RBI

–Flowers went 2 for 2 with a homer and a pair of RBIs

–Danks went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs

–Viciedo went 3 for 4 with an RBI

More Ups:

Mark Teahen went 2 for 2 with a walk and an RBI, but the big news here is that he didn’t commit an error at third after recording four throwing errors in his last two games…AlejandroDe Aza went 2 for 5…After pounding out 31 hits in the two games yesterday, the Sox came back with 17 today…Reliever Anthony Carter pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings.

The Downs:

With eight runs on the Rockies scoreboard, it’s no surprise that the pitchers were today’s culprits…John Danks gave up two runs, including a homer, five hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings of work…Matt Thornton surrendered two runs, two hits, a walk and blew a save in the seventh, although he got credit for the win…Freddy Dolsi gave up two runs and four hits in the eighth and Miguel Socolovich gave up a homer in the ninth before getting credit for the save.

The Sox travel to Scottsdale tomorrow to face the World Champion Giants.

We all know that preseason predictions mean nothing–nada, zilch, zero. And while we shouldn’t take them seriously, it’s still a lot of fun–especially when the so-called experts pick your team to win.

Historically, it’s very rare when the baseball media elite pick the White Sox to win their division, let alone the AL pennant or World Series. It’s not that much different this year as the Twins seem to be the most common pick to conquer the AL Central. That said, there are a few “big name” media types among those who have picked the South Siders:

* Hall of Fame electee Bill Madden of the New York Daily News and author of the forthcoming bio of George Steinbrenner.

* Fox Sports‘ Ken Rosenthal, who somewhat tongue-in-cheek picked the Sox to win the World Series while referring to them “Team Wacko.” Think that had anything to do with our Ozzie?

While Sox favorites Jermaine Dye and Joe Crede are still looking for new homes, a number of other former Pale Hosers are with new teams–for example, Jim Thome (Twins), Jose Contreras (Phillies), Scott Podsednik (Royals) and Jon Garland (Padres). The following is a list of the most recent ex-Sox to sign: one fairly significant, the others not so much.

* The well-traveled, but talented, shortstop Orlando Cabrera is now with the Cincinnati Reds. For the record, this is the “fairly significant” signing.

* Timo Perez, a reserve outfielder on the 2005 World Champs, signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

* Josh Fogg, a one-time closer candidate for the Sox, inked a minor league pact with the New York Mets.

* Lefty hurler Jimmy Gobble, who had a cup of coffee with the Sox, is now with the Colorado Rockies after agreeing to a minor league contract.

* Catcher Gustavo Molina, not related to Bengie, Jose and Yadier, signed a minor league agreement with the Boston Red Sox.

* Pitcher Horacio Ramirez, who had a short stint with the South Siders, just signed with the San Francisco Giants on a minor league deal.

I have a great deal of compassion for the Detroit Tigers and their fans this morning after last night’s thrilling tie-breaker loss in Minnesota. As a White Sox fan, I’ve seen this movie before.The Twins play the right way (especially in the Dome), make very few mistakes, hit in the clutch and just nibble at you until they’ve done enough to win. Ozzie Guillen said it best, they’re a bunch of piranhas.

As a division rival I hate them. As a baseball fan I admire them. Many are predicting a Yankee sweep in the ALDS and it very well could happen. But the Twins, a tired bunch without playoff-caliber pitching and an injured Justin Morneau, will compete and certainly won’t embarrass themselves.

My prediction: Yankees in 4. The Twins will find a way to win a game, but the Yanks’ lineup is as strong and balanced as any in baseball and the pitching staff should be able to handle the Minny hitters, who are at a major disadvantage without Morneau.

My other predictions:

Angels over Red Sox in 5Cardinals over Dodgers in 5Rockies over Phillies in 5

Sox News:Freddy Garcia and Matt Thornton had their respective options picked up and will both be back with the Sox in 2010.

There’s no reason for any us in SoxWorld to wish Jose Contreras anything but the best as he attempts to push the Colorado Rockies into the postseason. By all accounts he is a great guy and a great teammate. And how can we ever forget what he did for the Sox in ’05.

With that in mind let’s give it up for Jose’s first National League start. All he did was give up one run, eight hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings against the rival Diamondbacks as the Rockies remain one game ahead of the Giants in the NL Wild Card race.

A side note to Jose’s initial NL victory is that the one run he gave up was a home run off the bat of rookie Brandon Allen. Yes, the same Brandon Allen who the Sox traded earlier this season for reliever Tony Pena.

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